Chapter 997 - Empty-Handed

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

“Happy birthday to you.”

Everyone came forward to give their blessings. The blessings were endless. Everyone cupped their hands and gave the gifts they had brought. Clearly, everyone was prepared.

Only Shi Jin was empty-handed.

When everyone saw Shi Jin like this, they felt a little strange, but could not ask anything.

However, it was inevitable that some people would think that she was being rude. Who would come to someone else’s birthday party like this?

“Thank you, thank you. Thank you for coming to my birthday party. Thank you, everyone, for your gifts. Look at my memory. It really gets worse when I’m a year older. When I invited Shi Jin previously, I forgot to tell her that it was my birthday. It caused Shi Jin to come without any preparations.”

She spoke matter-of-factly and picked up her glass. “I’ll punish myself with three glasses.”

Everyone was infected by her cheerfulness, but they also felt that Shi Jin was a little insensitive. Everyone else knew that Zhang Xuelin was celebrating her birthday, but Shi Jin did not. This did not make sense.

Even if Zhang Xuelin didn’t say anything, didn’t Shi Jin have a manager and assistant? Wasn’t such an important matter worth asking about?

Although no one said anything, their attitude was obvious.

Ji Hanxue tried to smooth things over. “Shi Jin didn’t come in the past two days, so it’s normal for her not to know. It’s my fault for not communicating with Shi Jin.”

With him speaking up for her, everyone’s doubts lessened a little.

Shi Jin glanced to the side and said, “It was indeed my mistake not to bring a gift. There’s a brush, ink, paper, and inkstone here. From the looks of it, Xuelin likes Ms. Qing Ming’s paintings very much. Why don’t I copy one for you?”

Beside it were the Four Treasures of the Study and Qing Ming’s paintings. These were all Zhang Xuelin’s treasures.

She usually liked to imitate these paintings herself. She was good at drawing and writing.

Seeing that Shi Jin had spoken, she also wanted to know how capable Shi Jin was. She smiled and said, “Alright, then I’m really happy. I like Ms. Qing Ming’s paintings the most, but it’s difficult to learn her painting style. I’ve always tried to imitate it, but I can’t. If I can get a gift from Shi Jin, my long-cherished wish will be fulfilled.”

Everyone knew that Zhang Xuelin especially liked to draw and her calligraphy was excellent as well.

Shi Jin actually wanted to take on a challenge on the spot. Everyone was very interested. They wondered how far she could go.

“Which one are you going to paint?” Zhang Xuelin asked. “I’m quite close to Ms. Qing Ming. She said that among her paintings, the most difficult thing to copy is the scenery. Animals are quite easy to start with.”

Everyone couldn’t help but look at Zhang Xuelin. They usually only knew that she loved painting and had outstanding abilities. They didn’t expect her to be so close to Ms. Qing Ming.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

She had always had a different temperament from other female artistes. That should be the reason.

She had a high-class face. One look and one could tell that she had outstanding acting skills and temperament. On the other hand, Shi Jin was too beautiful. She was so exquisite that she did not look like a real person. It was inevitable that she gave off the feeling of being pretty but useless.

That was the downside of looking too perfect.

“I’ll do Ink Bamboo,” said Shi Jin.

“The ‘Ink Bamboo’ is Ms. Qing Ming’s signature work. It has her style. This is probably difficult to draw, right? The last time I visited her, she still said that it would be difficult for herself to imitate that painting.” Zhang Xuelin was very surprised that she wanted to choose the most difficult painting.

The others were also a little surprised. They knew that Shi Jin was talented, but it was indeed very difficult to imitate this.

“Shi Jin, are you sure?”

“That’s not very easy to paint. It’s too hard for you to copy this.”

Ji Hanxue was quite interested in this. He smiled and looked at Shi Jin. “Shi Jin, try it.”

Zhang Xuelin immediately said, “I’ll get the picture for your reference.”

“No need. I remember it.” With that, Shi Jin had taken the appropriate pen, dipped it in the thick ink and begun to move it across the paper.

It was very difficult to copy such a painting, and the time required was also very long.

For example, Zhang Xuelin usually had to choose a period of time when she was not busy to imitate these paintings.

Most large Chinese paintings often took hours to copy.

Shi Jin actually just picked up the brush and began.

Initially, everyone did not think much of it and felt that Shi Jin was too arrogant, but a few minutes later, when they saw the prototype on the paper, everyone couldn’t help but exclaim, “This is really identical!”

“It’s been less than ten minutes and she’s already halfway through copying!”

“She wasn’t looking at anything at all. She painted it from memory!”

Zhang Xuelin could not help but be very surprised. She lowered her head to look at Shi Jin’s painting and saw that she was really painting casually without any difficulty.

Her eyes gradually widened as she stared at Shi Jin in disbelief.

Slowly, she regained her composure. Shi Jin had finished painting everything.

Everyone was amazed. Not only was Shi Jin’s drawing no different from Qing Ming’s, but she had also grasped that little bit of strength of character perfectly.

Ji Hanxue nodded and smiled. “Shi Jin, I haven’t seen you for a while and you’ve improved again. I’ll have to discuss it with you another day.”

“It’s also time for me to learn more from Director Ji.”

In Director Ji’s production team, the staff who came over in the early stages had basically worked with various directors. Everyone’s horizons were extraordinary.

Initially, everyone’s impression of Shi Jin was closer to that of a popular female celebrity. The more beautiful a person was, the more they would associate her with popularity. It was inevitable that they would ignore things other than her beauty. Therefore, their feelings for her were not too special.

Now that they saw the painting, they realized that some of the rumors about her in the outside world were not false. She did have a lot of talent. It was dazzling.

Zhang Xuelin took the painting with a smile. “That’s great, Shi Jin. You copied it so well. Other than not having Teacher Qing Ming’s name, everything else is almost the same as Teacher Qing Ming. It’s my honor to have you give me such a painting.”

“You’re welcome. My mother also said that my paintings are not much worse than hers.” Shi Jin smiled politely.

“Your mother is…”

“Gu Qingqing, Ms. Qing Ming, my mother,” Shi Jin admitted frankly.

Zhang Xuelin was stunned and looked a little embarrassed. She had been bragging about her relationship with Ms. Qing Ming just now. She was using this relationship to flatter herself.

Now, Shi Jin casually said that they were mother and daughter. And Shi Jin had not mentioned any of this before.

Even during her acting career, no one knew about her relationship with Ms. Qing Ming.

“But I think there’s still a huge gap between me and my mother. There’s still a lot to learn. There’s still room for improvement in the future,” Shi Jin said calmly.